392 Cultivation of Moorland. 



ings. As an instance the Wolds in Gloucestershire may be re- 

 ferred to. 



Loose stones may often be converted into uses, such as the 

 building of walls, filling in of drains, repairing of roads, &c., 

 and are thus cleared from the land at a cheap rate ; hut in really 

 stony districts they are so numerous, and their requirements for 

 the above uses so reduced, that it becomes so formidable an affair 

 that they are left to nature's course. 



Loose stones of moderate size are sometimes found advan- 

 tageous rather than otherwise, but this occurs only where warmth 

 is required (such as many of the cold soils in Bedfordshire), as 

 they thus act as attractors and conductors of heat to cold-bottomed 

 lands. 



I may mention a singular experiment that has been tried in 

 tlie neighbourhood of Luton, Beds, by removing the surface 

 stones from one land to another, thus: — 







e^'^if'-^4'A^^Br£i^.--%?r^^^^^ 



No. 1 had the whole of the surface stones removed and cast 

 on to the No. 2 ; while the No. 3 was allowed to remain in its 

 natural state. 



Result. — No. 1 came to harvest nearly one week later than 

 No. 3 and ten days later than No. 2. 



No. 2 being about four days earlier than No. 3. In quality of 

 grain No. 2 was best, but not quite so heavy in bulk. 



No. 1 being much inferior to the others both in quantity and 

 quality, but more especially in the latter. 



These experiments being tried by a relative, I have been fur- 

 nished with their ultimate decision by practice, which has been 

 to " let nature alone :" as — 



No. 1 by removing the stones became too cold ; 



No. 2 by receiving them became too hot ; and 



No. 3, in its natural way, was best. 



Waste lands that have a preponderance of stones upon their 

 surface are those that become most readily and too quickly 

 heated by the solar rays, and thus become objectionable for tlie 

 purposes of tillage lands. By deepening these soils, exposing 

 them to continued atmospherical influences, pulverization after 

 consolidation, changing tlie kinds of plants grown upon them, 



